The debut novel by renowned short story writer, Tony Birch, Blood is the perfectly modulated story of family, loyalty and love. As the two main characters, brother and sister Jesse and Rachel, struggle to make sense of the world around them, so their mother, Gwen, commits the family to yet another hasty retreat as her latest relationship breaks down.
It’s these treacherous waters that the two children must navigate. Mature for 13, Jesse has been looking after his sister, Rachel, since he was five. Gwen is less than attentive to the needs of her kids. Lovers come and go, men who usually don’t want the kids around.
Blood is a deceptively complex novel in spite of the writer’s unassuming language and predominantly linear, generally predictable, narrative. In Jesse, we find a boy both naive and yet already experienced in a lifetime of pain and disappointments. A weary acceptance pervades his character as he watches, time and time again, Gwen self-destruct. But any temptation to move on and fend for himself is countered by the enduring bond between him and his sister. He has, after all, sworn to protect her, no matter what. That promise was made in blood. But the constant reoccurring question for Jesse is whether he can keep it. For a short time, things are made easier as Gwen settles into a relationship with ex-con, Jon, good with his fists, in a rundown farmhouse on the edge of Melbourne. He has more time for the kids than Gwen. But she soon tires of the cosy domesticity and moves on.
It’s not long before another man, good with his fists, is on the scene. But Ray is not so much an ex-con as a drug-dealing current one. A decision Jesse makes puts them all in danger – and, ramping up the drama, Blood assumes the form of a road-trip.
Unadorned in its telling, Birch’s novel begins very much a domestic drama as Jesse’s desperation to escape and his fear of what will happen to Rachel is at the forefront. But that final third becomes compelling as the family flee the drug gang. Whilst it may push the boundaries of believability, all in all it is something of a magnificent achievement.
Shortlisted for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award, Blood lost out to Anna Funder and All That I Am.
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